Tropicana Announces New Jersey iGaming Partnership

As the clock ticks down toward the date when real-money online gambling goes live in New Jersey, another partnership between an Atlantic City land-based property and a gaming venture has been announced.

This time it’s the Tropicana announcing an alliance. The company has entered into an online gambling agreement with Gamesys Limited, the operator of jackpotjoy.com, according to Bloomberg Businessweek news.

British company eager to get underway in United States

UK-based Gamesys is thrilled to be moving into the burgeoning U.S. online gambling market, said Noel Hayden, who both founded and serves as the CEO for Gamsys. Fun fact: the company was the first to offer real-money online wagering via Facebook, says Bloomberg.

“We have always sought ambitious partners and Tropicana Atlantic City is a great partner,” Hayden remarked as news of the deal broke.

Tropicana also praises the deal

As word of the agreement spread this week, the Tropicana also touted the deal as being a step forward.

Tropicana’s president, Tony Rodio, remarked of the partnership, “Gamesys has a proven track record in the UK of providing excellent products and customer service and we look forward to launching Tropicana’s Internet gaming business with them.”

All twelve casinos in Atlantic City now have agreements in place

With only about three months remaining before the online betting websites are expected to go live, the New Jersey Department of Gaming Enforcement is reporting that all twelve land-based casinos in the state’s gaming capitol of Atlantic City have now entered into partnership agreements to operate an Internet betting web site.

Speaking to the press, division spokeswoman Lisa Spengler said every single one of New Jersey’s casinos “have identified an Internet gaming partner and either have entered into a contractual agreement with the partner or remain in negotiations.”

Online betting predicted to inject revenue into Atlantic City

When Internet wagering goes live in the Garden State, it is expected to be a boon to the state’s struggling casino industry. Since peaking in 2006, revenue numbers have steadily declined as gamblers who once frequented the city and its legendary boardwalk chose instead to drive roughly an hour to Pennsylvania, where casino gambling has expanded rapidly in recent years.

With many bettors preferring the newer, more modern casino properties in the Philadelphia area, Atlantic City has struggled to stay afloat. Its newest property, the $2.4 billion Revel, was bankrupt less than one year after its lavish April, 2012 opening. With a plan to be profitable by 2014 that hinges upon, amongst other things, a reversal of a smoking ban, Revel was able to exit quickly from bankruptcy by arranging with creditors to swap debt for equity.

While it remains to be seen whether the introduction of comprehensive Internet wagering to the Garden State will revive its flagging casino economy by introducing younger, more tech-savvy gamblers to the market, industry experts and pundits expect that casinos in Atlantic City may begin to see improvement as a resulted of regulated iGaming.

So far, real-money Internet gambling has only gone live in one state – Nevada, and only online poker there. Once New Jersey’s betting web sites are up and running, it will be the largest state, population-wise, to offer such entertainments to residents.

About Cliff Spiller

Cliff Spiller has been an online writer for 14 years. He worked for Small World Marketing for a decade, where he covered topics like gaming, sports, movies, and how-to guides. Since 2014, he has blogged about US and international gambling news on BestOnlineCasinos.com, USPokerSites.com, and LegalUSPokerSites.com

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